ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The community of Belle Isle has helped restore hope in Roxanne Faye Noles after her house sustained significant damage. The widow has had more than her share of tragedy.
“We lost the house during Irma, a big oak tree came down and took it out. My husband passed away June 24, right here unexpectedly,” Noles said.
[TRENDING: Worker falls to his death from StarFlyer attraction | Smuggled spider monkey to live at Brevard Zoo | Family reacts as rocket explodes over Alaska]
Noles said for three years she and her husband lived out of a trailer in their backyard.
“For 10 days it rained inside the house and so we lost everything,” Noles said.
The hardship might have broken her spirit but she said the goodwill of her neighbors was overwhelming.
“They really went crazy, they moved and yanked and hauled and bulldozed, the backyard as well,” Noles said.
Belle Isle Police Chief Laura Houston stepped in to help get results that prompted an army of volunteers.
“So I contacted some businesses in Belle Isle who I just know are supportive all the time and before I knew it there were so many volunteers who were saying I want to help I want to help,” Chief Houston said.
Noles said she and her husband didn’t have the financial resources or physical ability to help.
Chief Houston said in the five years she has been chief she observed the sense the community the residents have.
“This is a remarkable community that takes care of each other by just a phone call a text or a Facebook post and they come, kids and adults,” she said.